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Al-Manar TV (Hezbolla), Lebanon
May 6 2012
Greece, Armenia, Serbia Braced for Vote amid Economic Challenges
Local Editor
Poll stations in Greece, Armenia and Serbia opened on Sunday, amid
economic challenges in the countries.
General elections started in Greece on Sunday, after a campaign marked
by public anger over swinging austerity cuts.
Interior ministry announced polluting stations opened at 7:00 am (0400
GMT), and it's due to end at 7:00pm, with the first exit polls
expected soon after. The first official results are not expected much
before 11:00 pm.
After two years of cuts, opinion polls suggest voters are set to
punish Greece's two main parties for having agreed to more
belt-tightening in return for two international bailouts worth 240
billion Euros ($314.0 billion).
That prospect worries international lenders such as the European Union
and the International Monetary Fund, who fear that the resulting
political instability could plunge the eurozone back into crisis.
Both Greece's Pasok socialist party and the New Democracy
conservatives, the dominant political forces for the past four
decades, look likely to lose votes to around 30 smaller parties.
Some of those parties are openly hostile to the cuts imposed by the
previous administration in return for the international loans.
SERBIA VOTE OVERSHADOWED BY ECONOMY
Meanwhile, Serbians voted Sunday for a new president and parliament
after a campaign dominated by economic issues, pitting pro-European
President Boris Tadic against conservative populist Tomislav Nikolic.
Surveys have put Tadic and Nikolic neck-and-neck in the presidential
race, with their parties also running close in the parliamentary
elections.
The elections are seen as a turning point for Serbia because for the
first time in almost two decades they are focused on economy rather
than the Balkan conflicts that left Belgrade internationally isolated
for much of the past two decades.
Both camps support Serbia's EU membership bid while breakaway Kosovo,
which overshadowed the last polls, has been pushed to the background
by concerns about Serbia's stumbling economy and record unemployment.
ARMENIA VOTE
In Armenia, parliamentary elections kicked off on Sunday amid a battle
for supremacy between the governing party and its coalition partner,
led by a wealthy former arm wrestling champion.
"We expect highly active participation," Armen Khazarian, head of the
commission at one polling station in Yerevan, told AFP.
It is the biggest test of the ex-Soviet state's democratic credentials
since disputed presidential elections in 2008, when mass rallies ended
in clashes between riot police and opposition supporters that left 10
people dead.
The authorities in the impoverished country of 3.3 million people have
promised an unprecedentedly clean contest for the 131-seat National
Assembly in the hope of avoiding further political turmoil.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=54919&cid=22&fromval=1&frid=22&se ccatid=169&s1=1
May 6 2012
Greece, Armenia, Serbia Braced for Vote amid Economic Challenges
Local Editor
Poll stations in Greece, Armenia and Serbia opened on Sunday, amid
economic challenges in the countries.
General elections started in Greece on Sunday, after a campaign marked
by public anger over swinging austerity cuts.
Interior ministry announced polluting stations opened at 7:00 am (0400
GMT), and it's due to end at 7:00pm, with the first exit polls
expected soon after. The first official results are not expected much
before 11:00 pm.
After two years of cuts, opinion polls suggest voters are set to
punish Greece's two main parties for having agreed to more
belt-tightening in return for two international bailouts worth 240
billion Euros ($314.0 billion).
That prospect worries international lenders such as the European Union
and the International Monetary Fund, who fear that the resulting
political instability could plunge the eurozone back into crisis.
Both Greece's Pasok socialist party and the New Democracy
conservatives, the dominant political forces for the past four
decades, look likely to lose votes to around 30 smaller parties.
Some of those parties are openly hostile to the cuts imposed by the
previous administration in return for the international loans.
SERBIA VOTE OVERSHADOWED BY ECONOMY
Meanwhile, Serbians voted Sunday for a new president and parliament
after a campaign dominated by economic issues, pitting pro-European
President Boris Tadic against conservative populist Tomislav Nikolic.
Surveys have put Tadic and Nikolic neck-and-neck in the presidential
race, with their parties also running close in the parliamentary
elections.
The elections are seen as a turning point for Serbia because for the
first time in almost two decades they are focused on economy rather
than the Balkan conflicts that left Belgrade internationally isolated
for much of the past two decades.
Both camps support Serbia's EU membership bid while breakaway Kosovo,
which overshadowed the last polls, has been pushed to the background
by concerns about Serbia's stumbling economy and record unemployment.
ARMENIA VOTE
In Armenia, parliamentary elections kicked off on Sunday amid a battle
for supremacy between the governing party and its coalition partner,
led by a wealthy former arm wrestling champion.
"We expect highly active participation," Armen Khazarian, head of the
commission at one polling station in Yerevan, told AFP.
It is the biggest test of the ex-Soviet state's democratic credentials
since disputed presidential elections in 2008, when mass rallies ended
in clashes between riot police and opposition supporters that left 10
people dead.
The authorities in the impoverished country of 3.3 million people have
promised an unprecedentedly clean contest for the 131-seat National
Assembly in the hope of avoiding further political turmoil.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=54919&cid=22&fromval=1&frid=22&se ccatid=169&s1=1